@article {38573, title = {Whole genome analysis of Leptospira licerasiae provides insight into leptospiral evolution and pathogenicity}, journal = {PLoS neglected tropical diseasesPLoS neglected tropical diseases}, volume = {6}, year = {2012}, note = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23145189?dopt=Abstract}, type = {10.1371/journal.pntd.0001853}, abstract = {The whole genome analysis of two strains of the first intermediately pathogenic leptospiral species to be sequenced (Leptospira licerasiae strains VAR010 and MMD0835) provides insight into their pathogenic potential and deepens our understanding of leptospiral evolution. Comparative analysis of eight leptospiral genomes shows the existence of a core leptospiral genome comprising 1547 genes and 452 conserved genes restricted to infectious species (including L. licerasiae) that are likely to be pathogenicity-related. Comparisons of the functional content of the genomes suggests that L. licerasiae retains several proteins related to nitrogen, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism which might help to explain why these Leptospira grow well in artificial media compared with pathogenic species. L. licerasiae strains VAR010(T) and MMD0835 possess two prophage elements. While one element is circular and shares homology with LE1 of L. biflexa, the second is cryptic and homologous to a previously identified but unnamed region in L. interrogans serovars Copenhageni and Lai. We also report a unique O-antigen locus in L. licerasiae comprised of a 6-gene cluster that is unexpectedly short compared with L. interrogans in which analogous regions may include >90 such genes. Sequence homology searches suggest that these genes were acquired by lateral gene transfer (LGT). Furthermore, seven putative genomic islands ranging in size from 5 to 36 kb are present also suggestive of antecedent LGT. How Leptospira become naturally competent remains to be determined, but considering the phylogenetic origins of the genes comprising the O-antigen cluster and other putative laterally transferred genes, L. licerasiae must be able to exchange genetic material with non-invasive environmental bacteria. The data presented here demonstrate that L. licerasiae is genetically more closely related to pathogenic than to saprophytic Leptospira and provide insight into the genomic bases for its infectiousness and its unique antigenic characteristics.}, keywords = {DNA, Bacterial, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Transfer, Horizontal, Genome, Bacterial, Genomic islands, HUMANS, Leptospira, Molecular Sequence Data, Multigene Family, Prophages, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Virulence factors}, author = {Ricaldi, Jessica N. and Fouts, Derrick E. and J. Selengut and Harkins, Derek M. and Patra, Kailash P. and Moreno, Angelo and Lehmann, Jason S. and Purushe, Janaki and Sanka, Ravi and Torres, Michael and Webster, Nicholas J. and Vinetz, Joseph M. and Matthias, Michael A.} } @article {49776, title = {Whole genome analysis of Leptospira licerasiae provides insight into leptospiral evolution and pathogenicity.}, journal = {PLoS Negl Trop Dis}, volume = {6}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {e1853}, abstract = {

The whole genome analysis of two strains of the first intermediately pathogenic leptospiral species to be sequenced (Leptospira licerasiae strains VAR010 and MMD0835) provides insight into their pathogenic potential and deepens our understanding of leptospiral evolution. Comparative analysis of eight leptospiral genomes shows the existence of a core leptospiral genome comprising 1547 genes and 452 conserved genes restricted to infectious species (including L. licerasiae) that are likely to be pathogenicity-related. Comparisons of the functional content of the genomes suggests that L. licerasiae retains several proteins related to nitrogen, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism which might help to explain why these Leptospira grow well in artificial media compared with pathogenic species. L. licerasiae strains VAR010(T) and MMD0835 possess two prophage elements. While one element is circular and shares homology with LE1 of L. biflexa, the second is cryptic and homologous to a previously identified but unnamed region in L. interrogans serovars Copenhageni and Lai. We also report a unique O-antigen locus in L. licerasiae comprised of a 6-gene cluster that is unexpectedly short compared with L. interrogans in which analogous regions may include >90 such genes. Sequence homology searches suggest that these genes were acquired by lateral gene transfer (LGT). Furthermore, seven putative genomic islands ranging in size from 5 to 36 kb are present also suggestive of antecedent LGT. How Leptospira become naturally competent remains to be determined, but considering the phylogenetic origins of the genes comprising the O-antigen cluster and other putative laterally transferred genes, L. licerasiae must be able to exchange genetic material with non-invasive environmental bacteria. The data presented here demonstrate that L. licerasiae is genetically more closely related to pathogenic than to saprophytic Leptospira and provide insight into the genomic bases for its infectiousness and its unique antigenic characteristics.

}, keywords = {DNA, Bacterial, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Transfer, Horizontal, Genome, Bacterial, Genomic islands, HUMANS, Leptospira, Molecular Sequence Data, Multigene Family, Prophages, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Virulence factors}, issn = {1935-2735}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pntd.0001853}, author = {Ricaldi, Jessica N and Fouts, Derrick E and Selengut, Jeremy D and Harkins, Derek M and Patra, Kailash P and Moreno, Angelo and Lehmann, Jason S and Purushe, Janaki and Sanka, Ravi and Torres, Michael and Webster, Nicholas J and Vinetz, Joseph M and Matthias, Michael A} } @article {49780, title = {Three genomes from the phylum Acidobacteria provide insight into the lifestyles of these microorganisms in soils.}, journal = {Appl Environ Microbiol}, volume = {75}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Apr}, pages = {2046-56}, abstract = {

The complete genomes of three strains from the phylum Acidobacteria were compared. Phylogenetic analysis placed them as a unique phylum. They share genomic traits with members of the Proteobacteria, the Cyanobacteria, and the Fungi. The three strains appear to be versatile heterotrophs. Genomic and culture traits indicate the use of carbon sources that span simple sugars to more complex substrates such as hemicellulose, cellulose, and chitin. The genomes encode low-specificity major facilitator superfamily transporters and high-affinity ABC transporters for sugars, suggesting that they are best suited to low-nutrient conditions. They appear capable of nitrate and nitrite reduction but not N(2) fixation or denitrification. The genomes contained numerous genes that encode siderophore receptors, but no evidence of siderophore production was found, suggesting that they may obtain iron via interaction with other microorganisms. The presence of cellulose synthesis genes and a large class of novel high-molecular-weight excreted proteins suggests potential traits for desiccation resistance, biofilm formation, and/or contribution to soil structure. Polyketide synthase and macrolide glycosylation genes suggest the production of novel antimicrobial compounds. Genes that encode a variety of novel proteins were also identified. The abundance of acidobacteria in soils worldwide and the breadth of potential carbon use by the sequenced strains suggest significant and previously unrecognized contributions to the terrestrial carbon cycle. Combining our genomic evidence with available culture traits, we postulate that cells of these isolates are long-lived, divide slowly, exhibit slow metabolic rates under low-nutrient conditions, and are well equipped to tolerate fluctuations in soil hydration.

}, keywords = {Anti-Bacterial Agents, bacteria, Biological Transport, Carbohydrate Metabolism, Cyanobacteria, DNA, Bacterial, Fungi, Genome, Bacterial, Macrolides, Molecular Sequence Data, Nitrogen, Phylogeny, Proteobacteria, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Homology, Soil Microbiology}, issn = {1098-5336}, doi = {10.1128/AEM.02294-08}, author = {Ward, Naomi L and Challacombe, Jean F and Janssen, Peter H and Henrissat, Bernard and Coutinho, Pedro M and Wu, Martin and Xie, Gary and Haft, Daniel H and Sait, Michelle and Badger, Jonathan and Barabote, Ravi D and Bradley, Brent and Brettin, Thomas S and Brinkac, Lauren M and Bruce, David and Creasy, Todd and Daugherty, Sean C and Davidsen, Tanja M and DeBoy, Robert T and Detter, J Chris and Dodson, Robert J and Durkin, A Scott and Ganapathy, Anuradha and Gwinn-Giglio, Michelle and Han, Cliff S and Khouri, Hoda and Kiss, Hajnalka and Kothari, Sagar P and Madupu, Ramana and Nelson, Karen E and Nelson, William C and Paulsen, Ian and Penn, Kevin and Ren, Qinghu and Rosovitz, M J and Selengut, Jeremy D and Shrivastava, Susmita and Sullivan, Steven A and Tapia, Roxanne and Thompson, L Sue and Watkins, Kisha L and Yang, Qi and Yu, Chunhui and Zafar, Nikhat and Zhou, Liwei and Kuske, Cheryl R} } @article {38528, title = {Three genomes from the phylum Acidobacteria provide insight into the lifestyles of these microorganisms in soils}, journal = {Applied and environmental microbiologyApplied and environmental microbiology}, volume = {75}, year = {2009}, note = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19201974?dopt=Abstract}, type = {10.1128/AEM.02294-08}, abstract = {The complete genomes of three strains from the phylum Acidobacteria were compared. Phylogenetic analysis placed them as a unique phylum. They share genomic traits with members of the Proteobacteria, the Cyanobacteria, and the Fungi. The three strains appear to be versatile heterotrophs. Genomic and culture traits indicate the use of carbon sources that span simple sugars to more complex substrates such as hemicellulose, cellulose, and chitin. The genomes encode low-specificity major facilitator superfamily transporters and high-affinity ABC transporters for sugars, suggesting that they are best suited to low-nutrient conditions. They appear capable of nitrate and nitrite reduction but not N(2) fixation or denitrification. The genomes contained numerous genes that encode siderophore receptors, but no evidence of siderophore production was found, suggesting that they may obtain iron via interaction with other microorganisms. The presence of cellulose synthesis genes and a large class of novel high-molecular-weight excreted proteins suggests potential traits for desiccation resistance, biofilm formation, and/or contribution to soil structure. Polyketide synthase and macrolide glycosylation genes suggest the production of novel antimicrobial compounds. Genes that encode a variety of novel proteins were also identified. The abundance of acidobacteria in soils worldwide and the breadth of potential carbon use by the sequenced strains suggest significant and previously unrecognized contributions to the terrestrial carbon cycle. Combining our genomic evidence with available culture traits, we postulate that cells of these isolates are long-lived, divide slowly, exhibit slow metabolic rates under low-nutrient conditions, and are well equipped to tolerate fluctuations in soil hydration.}, keywords = {Anti-Bacterial Agents, bacteria, Biological Transport, Carbohydrate Metabolism, Cyanobacteria, DNA, Bacterial, Fungi, Genome, Bacterial, Macrolides, Molecular Sequence Data, Nitrogen, Phylogeny, Proteobacteria, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Homology, Soil Microbiology}, author = {Ward, Naomi L. and Challacombe, Jean F. and Janssen, Peter H. and Henrissat, Bernard and Coutinho, Pedro M. and Wu, Martin and Xie, Gary and Haft, Daniel H. and Sait, Michelle and Badger, Jonathan and Barabote, Ravi D. and Bradley, Brent and Brettin, Thomas S. and Brinkac, Lauren M. and Bruce, David and Creasy, Todd and Daugherty, Sean C. and Davidsen, Tanja M. and DeBoy, Robert T. and Detter, J. Chris and Dodson, Robert J. and Durkin, A. Scott and Ganapathy, Anuradha and Gwinn-Giglio, Michelle and Han, Cliff S. and Khouri, Hoda and Kiss, Hajnalka and Kothari, Sagar P. and Madupu, Ramana and Nelson, Karen E. and Nelson, William C. and Paulsen, Ian and Penn, Kevin and Ren, Qinghu and Rosovitz, M. J. and J. Selengut and Shrivastava, Susmita and Sullivan, Steven A. and Tapia, Roxanne and Thompson, L. Sue and Watkins, Kisha L. and Yang, Qi and Yu, Chunhui and Zafar, Nikhat and Zhou, Liwei and Kuske, Cheryl R.} } @article {38159, title = {Comparative genomic evidence for a close relationship between the dimorphic prosthecate bacteria Hyphomonas neptunium and Caulobacter crescentus}, journal = {Journal of bacteriologyJournal of bacteriology}, volume = {188}, year = {2006}, note = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16980487?dopt=Abstract}, type = {10.1128/JB.00111-06}, abstract = {The dimorphic prosthecate bacteria (DPB) are alpha-proteobacteria that reproduce in an asymmetric manner rather than by binary fission and are of interest as simple models of development. Prior to this work, the only member of this group for which genome sequence was available was the model freshwater organism Caulobacter crescentus. Here we describe the genome sequence of Hyphomonas neptunium, a marine member of the DPB that differs from C. crescentus in that H. neptunium uses its stalk as a reproductive structure. Genome analysis indicates that this organism shares more genes with C. crescentus than it does with Silicibacter pomeroyi (a closer relative according to 16S rRNA phylogeny), that it relies upon a heterotrophic strategy utilizing a wide range of substrates, that its cell cycle is likely to be regulated in a similar manner to that of C. crescentus, and that the outer membrane complements of H. neptunium and C. crescentus are remarkably similar. H. neptunium swarmer cells are highly motile via a single polar flagellum. With the exception of cheY and cheR, genes required for chemotaxis were absent in the H. neptunium genome. Consistent with this observation, H. neptunium swarmer cells did not respond to any chemotactic stimuli that were tested, which suggests that H. neptunium motility is a random dispersal mechanism for swarmer cells rather than a stimulus-controlled navigation system for locating specific environments. In addition to providing insights into bacterial development, the H. neptunium genome will provide an important resource for the study of other interesting biological processes including chromosome segregation, polar growth, and cell aging.}, keywords = {Alphaproteobacteria, Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins, Caulobacter crescentus, cell cycle, Chemotaxis, DNA, Bacterial, Flagella, Genome, Bacterial, Microbial Viability, Molecular Sequence Data, Movement, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Homology, signal transduction}, author = {Badger, Jonathan H. and Hoover, Timothy R. and Brun, Yves V. and Weiner, Ronald M. and Laub, Michael T. and Alexandre, Gladys and Mr{\'a}zek, Jan and Ren, Qinghu and Paulsen, Ian T. and Nelson, Karen E. and Khouri, Hoda M. and Radune, Diana and Sosa, Julia and Dodson, Robert J. and Sullivan, Steven A. and Rosovitz, M. J. and Madupu, Ramana and Brinkac, Lauren M. and Durkin, A. Scott and Daugherty, Sean C. and Kothari, Sagar P. and Giglio, Michelle Gwinn and Zhou, Liwei and Haft, Daniel H. and J. Selengut and Davidsen, Tanja M. and Yang, Qi and Zafar, Nikhat and Ward, Naomi L.} } @article {38575, title = {Whole-genome sequence analysis of Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A reveals divergence among pathovars in genes involved in virulence and transposition}, journal = {Journal of bacteriologyJournal of bacteriology}, volume = {187}, year = {2005}, note = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16159782?dopt=Abstract}, type = {10.1128/JB.187.18.6488-6498.2005}, abstract = {Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola, a gram-negative bacterial plant pathogen, is the causal agent of halo blight of bean. In this study, we report on the genome sequence of P. syringae pv. phaseolicola isolate 1448A, which encodes 5,353 open reading frames (ORFs) on one circular chromosome (5,928,787 bp) and two plasmids (131,950 bp and 51,711 bp). Comparative analyses with a phylogenetically divergent pathovar, P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000, revealed a strong degree of conservation at the gene and genome levels. In total, 4,133 ORFs were identified as putative orthologs in these two pathovars using a reciprocal best-hit method, with 3,941 ORFs present in conserved, syntenic blocks. Although these two pathovars are highly similar at the physiological level, they have distinct host ranges; 1448A causes disease in beans, and DC3000 is pathogenic on tomato and Arabidopsis. Examination of the complement of ORFs encoding virulence, fitness, and survival factors revealed a substantial, but not complete, overlap between these two pathovars. Another distinguishing feature between the two pathovars is their distinctive sets of transposable elements. With access to a fifth complete pseudomonad genome sequence, we were able to identify 3,567 ORFs that likely comprise the core Pseudomonas genome and 365 ORFs that are P. syringae specific.}, keywords = {Bacterial Proteins, DNA, Bacterial, Genes, Bacterial, Genome, Bacterial, Molecular Sequence Data, Pseudomonas syringae, Species Specificity, virulence}, author = {Joardar, Vinita and Lindeberg, Magdalen and Jackson, Robert W. and J. Selengut and Dodson, Robert and Brinkac, Lauren M. and Daugherty, Sean C. and Deboy, Robert and Durkin, A. Scott and Giglio, Michelle Gwinn and Madupu, Ramana and Nelson, William C. and Rosovitz, M. J. and Sullivan, Steven and Crabtree, Jonathan and Creasy, Todd and Davidsen, Tanja and Haft, Dan H. and Zafar, Nikhat and Zhou, Liwei and Halpin, Rebecca and Holley, Tara and Khouri, Hoda and Feldblyum, Tamara and White, Owen and Fraser, Claire M. and Chatterjee, Arun K. and Cartinhour, Sam and Schneider, David J. and Mansfield, John and Collmer, Alan and Buell, C. Robin} }